The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch the second developmental flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota on Friday.
Isro’s first launch of the year – scheduled at 9.18 am from the first launch pad at SDSC – is a follow-up to the failed SSLV D1 mission in August 2022. The mission draws on what the national space agency listed as recommendations and corrective actions addressing the anomalies that caused the first mission to fail.
The SSLV-D2 is intended to inject the 156.3-kg earth observation satellite EOS-07, designed and developed by Isro, along with Janus-1, a 10.2-kg satellite by US-based space software provider Antaris, and AzaadiSAT-2, weighing 8.7 kg and put together by aerospace startup Space Kidz India (SKI), into 450 km circular orbit in its 15-minutes flight.
“SSLV has a short lead time; it has been designed for launch-on-demand needs and we can put it together in five to six days. This is the second developmental mission and it will decide how well the technology will translate to results for the industry,” a senior Isro official told DH.
The 34-metre tall, 2-metre diameter vehicle can launch up to 500 kg satellites to Low Earth Orbits. The launcher is configured with three solid propulsion stages and a velocity trimming module as a terminal stage. Isro has designed SSLV as a low-cost launcher with low turnaround time, multiple payload options, and minimal launch infrastructure.
The payloads
The EOS-07 comes with new technology experiments including a mm-wave humidity sounder to track the earth’s atmosphere and surface.
Janus-1 is a technology-demonstrator smart satellite mission based on the Antaris software platform. A total of 750 girl students from economically weak backgrounds, picked from 75 schools across the country, worked on AzaadiSAT-2, along with a SKI team that did the payload integration, Srimathy Kesan, founder and CEO of SKI, told DH. Among the mission objectives are demonstrations of an expandable satellite structure, sensor-powered measurement of radiation levels, and amateur radio communication capabilities.
SSLV-D1 lifted off from the SDSC in Sriharikota on August 7, 2022, but failed in its objective to inject the satellites into a circular orbit of 356.2 km. Earlier this month, Isro spelled out details from an analysis of SSLV-D1’s failure and traced it to a short-duration vibration disturbance during the second stage separation.
The space agency said changes were made to the vehicle’s separating system, structural design and steering guidance system for the second flight.